Companionship Within Solitude
by Zodiac Sefirosu
Summary: B-Day present for ReplicaRiku'sgirl. Based on our roleplay. Starts out kinda depressing, but has a sweet ending. Mostly in an OC's point of view.


Seph, Teah, and Stripe belong to me while Luana and Mercy belongs to ReplicaRiku'sgirl. All other characters belong to Square Enix, though they don't act like they do in-game.

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The five-year old boy plopped down on the counter of the kitchen with a sigh. Brushing his silver hair out of his vision, the child known as Seph looked at the open cookbook beside him before closing it, for once not in the mood to perform his culinary miracles. The mini-Sephiroth then placed the book where it used to be on the shelf before closing his eyes to think. "What's the point of having a family if you still feel like an outsider?" He mumbled to himself. "It seems that nearly everyone but me is loved by someone."

A tiny chirping sound eventually snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked to a side to notice a black chocobo chick trying to climb onto the counter beside him. He helped the tiny chick up and then pulled him into his lap with one of his light blue tentacles. "Hey Stripe." He said in greeting to the little ball of feathers, getting a small wark in response. He grinned as he rubbed his neck, revealing the stripe of silver feathers he was named for. "Come to cheer me up, hm? Afterall, I suppose both of us are outsiders." He said while looking at their bodies that were permanently frozen in the age they were at now.

The sound of a male's cheerful laughter and the giggles of a small girl approaching halted his one-sided conversation with the chick. He looked up to see a man looking to be around twenty years old with silver, spiky hair and draconic wings sprouting from his back enter the kitchen. He also had a little girl with blue hair on his shoulders who was holding onto horns that grew from his head. "Hey Zack, hey Teah." Seph greeted in a forced-to-be happy voice, not wanting to make Zack worry about him.

"Hey Seph!" Zack replied cheerfully. "Did you hear the good news?"

The child tilted his head at him. "Good news?"

"Teah is to be my future wife! She already agreed to it." He said proudly while spreading his wings.

He gave his best friend a pained smile. "That's great, Zack. I'm really happy for you."

He noticed the lack of enthusiasm and cheerfulness in his normally joyful companion. "Seph, what's wrong?"

He forced his smile to seem happier. "I'm fine."

Zack sighed mentally. He knew Seph was hiding something from him, but prying wouldn't help, seeing as he shared the stubbornness of his older self. "Anyway, we came here because Teah was hungry. Do you mind whipping something up for us?"

"Sorry Zack, but I'm just not in the mood to cook right now." He said as he hopped down from the counter and headed out of the kitchen with the chocobo chick in his arms.

"_Okay, something is definitely bugging him." _He thought to himself. _"Let's see here, the last time he was like this was when he thought his secret girlfriend wouldn't want to be with him because he wouldn't age. The fact that he didn't, and still doesn't know that she was my girlfriend didn't help. But he decided against their relationship when she started harming me for no reason. Maybe he's depressed because of that. Ah well, I'll ask him later. Looks like I'll have to make a meal for my beloved myself."_

Meanwhile, Seph wandered around the huge castle he called home while petting Stripe. "Do you know why Mercy left, Stripe?" A flap of the wings that was considered a shrug was the response he got. He sighed. "I can't sense her anywhere, so she must have left. Was Zack wrong and did she leave because I wouldn't grow? He said, remembering when he and Mercy got into an argument about Zack and she forced him to start growing, though that was soon stopped by Sephiroth's wife, Luana. "Nearly everyone else in the castle has someone they love deeply. Even Zack, cursed to repel most women for some reason, has someone now. I think the only adults here who haven't at least been with someone romantically in the past are Jenova, Kadaj, Angeal, and Genesis. I must be turning into Zack in the attraction sense."

The tiny chick in his arms let out a wark of disagreement.

He laughed. "Of course I know that you'll always like me." He sighed, mood switching in a second. "Even Sephiroth's first son, Orochi, only two or three years old has a girlfriend."

"The world's end has already been reached, now then, where are our goddesses at?"

The child sighed. "Genesis, you haven't quoted from Loveless in ages, so don't start now."

The redhead grinned at him. "Well, you were talking about your literal goddess leaving, so I couldn't resist."

"Sorry, but I don't think hearing Loveless is going to help, even if the title matches with what I'm feeling right now."

The normally-joking man instantly sobered. "Seph, you know you're not alone here, right?"

He smiled weakly at him. "I feel like I am, but, I've got this guy." He said as he held up the chick. "Long as I've got him, I can deal with anything."

Genesis smiled back at him. "Well, you have more friends other than the little puffball there." He picked up the child. "Come on, I'll take you to someone who I would be surprised if they didn't care about you from what I've seen."

"Well, seeing as I have no choice here, I'll go with you." Seph said with a bit of humor in the tone of his voice while crossing his arms across his chest.

Within a few minutes, Genesis had taken him to a lavish room in the castle that was decorated with varying shades of blue. He set Seph down on the floor who eagerly climbed onto the bed, knowing full well whose room they were in. He backed away slightly to avoid intruding upon the matriarch of this family's privacy.

Seph, on the other hand, knew he would not bother her with his presence as he crawled towards the lump under the blanket with Stripe hopping around and chirping excitedly, yet softly. He snuggled up to her while wrapping his arms around her, feeling her stir at his touch. "Mother."

Jenova opened her eyes drowsily once she felt her son by her and sat up in the bed while holding the blanket to cover her bare chest. "Hello, my little Seph." She said while stroking the hair of the child that snuggled against her side. "Is there something wrong with you?"

He paused before nodding. "Mother, do you feel like an outsider compared with the rest of the family?"

"An outsider how, Sweetie? I'm different from this family in many ways."

"I mean romantically. Nearly every other adult here seems to have someone they love except for you."

She widened her eyes from the unexpected question before hugging her son tightly. "As long as I have my precious babies like you, I don't need a husband."

Genesis watched this scene while leaning against the doorframe, lightly fingering the copy of Loveless he always kept in the pocket of his trench coat. "Afterall, a mother may soothe all of a child's problems, but then, who will soothe the mother?" He whispered softly.


End file.
